Bullying Lesson 2 Learning Objective: To enquire and reflect into the factors that intensify online cruelty and cyber bullying.

Cyber bullying Cyber bullying takes place whenever someone used digital media tools such as the Internet and mobile phones to deliberately upset or harass someone, often repeatedly.

Ricardo’s Story Do you think Ricardo is a cyber bully? Why or why not? Ricardo is probably a cyber bully because he openly criticises people online. On the other hand, we don’t know how mean his comments were, and if he might change his behaviour in the future. What does Ricardo mean when he says that information “gets around really quick”? Information generally travels faster and reaches more people on the Internet than offline, this potentially makes the impact harder.

Ricardo’s Story Ricardo thinks that harassing others on the Internet, rather than in person, appeals to some teenagers because they can’t be attacked back physically. What do you think? Cyber bullies can hide behind their computers and hide their face from their target. On the other hand, conflicts that start online often go offline at some point. Have you ever encountered online cruelty? How do you think someone might feel after being the target of it?

Stacey’s Story rs/lesson/turn-down-dial-cyberbullying-and- online-cruelty-9-10

Upstanders Stand up to the offender when appropriate. Point out the bully’s motivation to the target. Help the target advocate.

Dial it Down Divide into two groups. One half is going to show how online cruelty escalated in Stacey’s story. The other half are going to show how it could have de-escalated if Stacey had some upstanders on her side.

Reflection Write a reflection in your books on the question: Why is it important to be an upstander rather than a bystander?